It is not uncommon today for a particular transaction to involve entities other than the parties directly involved in conducting the transaction. For example, a third party entity will often be involved in accounting for, billing, and/or collecting revenues associated with a particular transaction. Commercial transactions in which an individual employs a credit card to pay a vendor for goods and services is one situation in which a third party, here the credit card issuer, is involved in billing and collecting revenues from a party to the transaction. Collect calling and calling card calling services are another situation in which a third party, here a local exchange carrier (LEC) or calling card provider, is involved in billing and collecting revenues from a party to the transaction. However, in order to properly account and collect payment for such transactions, records of the transaction must generally be created and processed.
As a specific example of providing services wherein entities other than the parties directly involved in conducting the transaction are utilized in accounting for, billing, and/or collecting revenues, a call processing system may be deployed in association with a particular facility to facilitate collect calling services. For example, a call processor may be deployed at an inmate facility, such as a prison, jail, or penitentiary, to allow inmates to place calls to friends, family, attorneys, bail bondsmen, etcetera. However, such inmates generally do not have readily available liquid assets, and therefore such calls must often be charged to the called party, e.g., the friend, family member, attorney, or bail bondsman.
Typically, when placing a collect call, a call record, such as may include dial number, originating number, time of call, duration of call, etcetera, will be created at the switch or the call processor at the facility. On a periodic basis these call records will generally be collected centrally, such as through implementation of a polling process, for processing. Typically, the call records will be processed to make routing determinations, e.g., identifying a LEC responsible for billing the called party, and the records will be “out-cleared” for collection. That is, when call records are out-cleared to a third party, the accounts receivable for those particular calling services are sold to a third party, such as the aforementioned LEC, for billing and collection since the LEC already has a business relationship in place with the called party (the party to the transaction responsible for the charges incurred for the service). Therefore, ownership and control of the call record and the receivables associated therewith is transferred from the service provider, or other initial owner, to a third party, such as the aforementioned LEC.
Such out-clearing of records is typically accomplished promptly following processing of such call records. Accordingly, out-clearing generally results in the transferring of call record data to the LECs or other entities relatively quickly after the calling services have been provided.
Billing and collection for calling services by LECs or other third parties is typically done at a cost. For example, a per page charge, such as on the order of one dollar ($0.50-1.50), for including billing statements in a LEC bill may be made. Additionally, a per call charge, such as on the order of one or two cents ($0.01 or $0.03), for each call billed may be made by the LEC. Moreover, a LEC may withhold a portion of the amount of the accounts receivable purchased, such as on the order of 10-20%, for expected bad debt. Payments of excess withheld amounts may not be tendered by the LECs until several months have transpired since the out-clearing of the records, when the LEC is able to determine that the level of bad debt has not been as great as the amounts withheld.
According to conventional wisdom, minimizing the time between providing the calling services and out-clearing of the call records is desirable in order to minimize the time for collecting upon these accounts. However, releasing of such accounts to third parties, such as the aforementioned LECs, results in a loss of control and visibility by the service provider with respect to the party to the transaction. Accordingly, if a customer service issue arises after processing of a call, the calling service provider often finds it necessary to involve the LEC, such as to determine if the party has made payment, to have a party make a payment when a payment verification point (PVP) is reached (e.g., a dollar limit on the unpaid value of calling services provided is reached), etcetera.
Moreover, the business relationship between the calling service provider and the LEC often requires that bad debt be held below a particular threshold, such as a percentage corresponding to the aforementioned payment withholding percentage. However, a calling service provider is often unable to adequately assess the risk involved with respect to providing calling services to a particular party during the time a call is being set up. Accordingly, a calling service provider may inadvertently out-clear call records having bad debt associated therewith in excess of the agreed upon percentage, thereby causing the calling service provider to breach the agreement with the LEC and possibly forfeiting the ability to sell such accounts receivable to that LEC for billing and collection.